Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger spent more than an hour with lawyers for Stanley Tookie Williams and prosecutors pushing for his death sentence Thursday, hearing final arguments before he makes a decision on Williams' bid to avoid lethal injection.

Schwarzenegger now has fewer than four days to weigh Williams' past as a convicted four-time murderer and gang leader against his present work as an anti-gang crusader. Williams, who has written eight children's books from his Death Row cell, is pleading for clemency based on his value as "a unique voice'' against street violence, one of his attorneys said.

The hearing, in which both sides made their case to Schwarzenegger and four lawyers who work for the governor, took place in private. The governor was handed a letter from Williams during the meeting.

Schwarzenegger made no public appearances Thursday, and while attorneys held press conferences in front of more than 25 television cameras and dozens of reporters, no one would divulge details of the meeting held in the Ronald Reagan Cabinet Room inside the governor's suite of Capitol offices.

Williams' case has received worldwide attention and his notoriety and scheduled execution at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday has California prison officials preparing for potential violence inside facilities. Celebrities have been drawn to Williams' cause -- he met privately with rapper Snoop Dogg Wednesday and with actor Jamie Foxx Thursday at San Quentin State Prison.

In the Capitol, a deputy district attorney from Los Angeles made the case against clemency, declaring that Williams was guilty of "extremely brutal crimes against people who were defenseless.''

"Very simply, in our opinion, there are certain murders -- not every murder -- where an individual's conduct is just so abhorrent, where the crime is so brutal, it simply justifies the ultimate punishment,''

Arnolds a bright guy so I hope he's smart enough to figure out the people crusading for Tookie would never vote for him regardless of whether he grants clemency. So please don't think granting clemency will provide any politial bonus. It would only alienate the people who fought hardest for him in the last election.

I predict a Great Wavering on this one. I hope I'm wrong. This scum-bag deserves to be executed, then revived then executed again. And Arnold knows that. No doubt about it. But Arnold is deeply shaken by his recent defeats. Under the stress of those loses, I think he's about to make a big political and moral mistake. In the mistaken belief that he can placate the leftist hordes who trample his state.

Remember that scene in the first Terminator when the Terminator said "I'll be back", and proceeded to slaughter all the cops in the precinct? Well, it's time to re-shoot the scene, except this time you get to do society a favor by terminating rioting scum in prison.

"..."Very simply, in our opinion, there are certain murders -- not every murder -- where an individual's conduct is just so abhorrent, where the crime is so brutal, it simply justifies the ultimate punishment,''..."

Sounds like this should apply to abortionists.

18
posted on 12/09/2005 7:47:19 AM PST
by NCC-1701
(RADICAL ISLAM IS A CULT. IT MUST BE ERADICATED ASAP)

I can't imagine the Governor letting this guy live. He gains absolutely nothing by commuting his sentence (Mike Farrel and Ed Asner will never vote for him anyway), and will lose the remainder of the state. Remember that California, although being a haven of leftist buffoons, is highly in favor of the death penalty and one of the states to suffer the most from gang activity over the last generation.

19
posted on 12/09/2005 7:55:07 AM PST
by HawaiianGecko
(Facts are neither debatable nor open to "I have a right to this opinion" nonsense.)

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